Several airlines have secured slots to introduce new routes to cities across the former Yugoslavia for the 2026 summer season, which begins on March 29. These include proposed services to Skopje, Pristina, Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. However, as these allocations stem from initial applications, the carriers may ultimately repurpose the approved timings for other destinations. As a result, the launch of these flights remains tentative and is not yet guaranteed.
A carrier has been granted departure and arrival slots for a proposed service between Dublin and Skopje. According to its filing, the airline intends to operate 300 movements on the route over the 2026 summer season, equating to 150 flights in each direction and a total of 52.200 seats. No airline currently serving Skopje is based in Dublin, nor do easyJet or Wizz Air, both present in the Macedonian capital, operate flights to the Irish city. Dublin’s largest airlines, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, are poised for major expansion next year, with the former allocated capacity for an additional 1.4 million seats and the latter for 1.3 million based on preliminary slot data.
An airline has been approved for slots to launch flights between Warsaw and Pristina next summer. The carrier intends to operate 179 movements on the route, providing a total of 31.146 seats between the two cities. LOT Polish Airlines previously served the market for a single summer season in 2022. In addition, Flynas has been granted approval to extend its recently launched Jeddah - Pristina service into the 2026 summer season.
An airline has been granted slots to introduce 120 new movements, or sixty flights, between Dubai and Dubrovnik. The Adriatic city is currently linked to Dubai by Flydubai on a seasonal basis, but the newly allocated slots would add a further 20.640 seats between the two cities during the summer. It is not yet clear whether the application was submitted by Flydubai to increase its existing operations or by another carrier planning to enter the market.
Finally, a carrier has been granted slots to launch limited summer operations between Dammam and Sarajevo. Dammam is situated on Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf coast opposite Bahrain. The airline has been approved for 38 movements on the route, which would amount to 7.068 seats over the course of the season.
Very interesting. Wonder who applied for DUB-SKP?!?
ReplyDeleteMight be Ryanair. Couple of year ago they applied for DUB-INI but never launched.
DeleteDefinitely it is not Rynair, I dont think they have any good relations with us after that interview with the minister :D , it is Wizz air or Aer Lingus , or maybe Easyjet....
DeleteNeither Wizz Air or easyjet fly to Dublin and I doubt they would start just because of SKP route.
DeleteReally ? I thought Easyjet is flying to Dublin.... thanks for the info. Then you think is possible Ryanair to enter Macedonia just with one route ? :D
DeleteDo remember that airlines sometimes just apply with a random route to safekeep slot times before deciding on which route to utilize them. This happened a few years ago when someone applied for Dublin-Nis (most probably FR). It could be the same here. Of course I hope it's not but it most likely is.
DeleteIt says in the article. Do people even read
Delete"No airline currently serving Skopje is based in Dublin, nor do easyJet or Wizz Air, both present in the Macedonian capital, operate flights to the Irish city."
I highly doubt this will come to anything. I cannot see the passenger demand for 150 return flights between Dublin and Skopje, with Irish tourists more than used to transferring for such "exotic" European destinations. When would such a route need to begin in order to achieve that number of flights? What market would be the target market as North Macedonian and Albanian passport holders require visas? Which airline other that FR or EI would attempt such a routing is unclear.
DeleteEven Sofia is only connected to Dublin only 4 and 6 times a week most of the year. Thessaloniki (around 3/4 weekly) and Tirana (3 weekly) also serve the region direct with Ryanair.
a 2 weekly in summer (Apr-Oct) shouldnt be a problem to fill with FR
DeletePerhaps. Although it would be highly out of character for FR routes from Dublin at the moment. Also begs the question why enter the N.Macedonian market from one of its furthest bases from a country that doesn't even have an embassy in Skopje.
Deletethey also have no embassy in AL yet they will fly there
DeleteIndeed. Because Irish tourists visit, and there is a relatively sizeable Albanian community in Dublin. Also FR have a massive presence in Tirana unlike Skopje which has very modest tourist appeal and no FR presence (yet).
Deletewe got it , you made the same arguments for LJU-SKP or just any new route to SKP
DeleteI personally have never commented on anything to do with SK. But am making sound observations based on knowledge of the industry.
Deleteonly today the whole day. Aha
DeleteWe have tourists from Ireland in Skopje and Ohrid all the time during the year. You will always find some in pubs or the old bazar in bars.
DeleteIt is obvious it was applied for for some other reason, definitely not to start direct flights between Macedonia and Ireland. It is a waste of time guessing what that reason was.
Deleteas much as the embassy theory
DeleteAnd what is your theory? Cos I don't think you have one except wishful thinking that Ryanair would link what is one of the richest and most expensive cities in western Europe with one of the lesser visited with any urgency.
DeleteVisas are not problem for any flight to be launched and be succesfull. The demand and real needs is what is important. If this is helped by any tour operator and bringing tourists to both routes yes it will work, probably it is only summer seasonal, why does all of you think 2x weekly flights will not work in SKP? It is not daily flights, but 2x at least will work without any problems !!!!
DeleteIt could be TUI as well, they have a charter base in Dublin and went ahead and reserved more slots than they need to see which dates get filled up
Delete@17:34 because FR is a serious airline that isn't in the business of launching routes such as this at the current time. It wont work for a host of reasons people have stated so don't be disappoint when nothing comes of it.
Delete"Visas are not problem for any flight to be launched and be succesfull." Do you realise that is not the case? Flights from Skopje depend heavily on outbound traffic. There is no way on gods earth Ryanair would be able stimulate the demand for almost 400 return passengers between Dublin and Skopje despite their vast skills.
DeleteEven Slovenia with 27.000 tourist from Ireland between Jan-Sep doesn't have flights to DUB but y'all expect SKP to have them with basically zero tourism?
DeleteSKP has zero tourism ,and so far until September more than 1 million tourists visit Macedonia , dude are you for real ? SKP handling 300k passengers each month , LJU barely having 100k 😂Please stop with this humor, just check tourists numbers for both countries and then start comparing ;)
DeleteData for 2024
DeleteSlovenia - 6.58 million visitors
North Macedonia - between 1.2 and 1.5 million visitors depending on source.
@18:11 you are right that inbound tourism from Ireland must be extremely low, with the reverse (e.g. North Macedonians taking holidays in Ireland) being very very low. I'm not sure actual figures are easily available. For a route to work it would needs bums on seats that are willing to pay reasonable sums for a flight of over three hours in length.
DeleteGiven the debate and wishful thinking here today, maybe someone from FR might be grateful for the mentions.
27.000 tourist from Ireland to Slovenia vs 1300 to Macedonia. Sorry to hurt your feelings but DUB-LJU makes way more sense than DUB-SKP. What a clown.
Delete+1
Delete18:42 data for LJU airport 1.4 mlion passengers, clearly showing all that tourists come in Slovenia by car,bus,train but not by air travel ;) they will never launch flights to LJU with 100k passengers in a month
DeleteWe are speaking here about air travel not about countries overall tourists mumbers,LJU airport handled 1.4 million passengers in 2024 and SKP handled 3 million , basically half of this travellers in SKP are tourists 1.6 million and rest is gasto people with the overall 3million people that travelled through air in Macedonia. This clearly show tourists coming in Macedonia using air travel nut in Slovenia car and buses
Delete@19:51 and 19:54 I'm afraid you still don't get it do you. This is discussion is about the desirability and profitability of a hypothetical route between Dublin and Ireland which most people with any sense here realise is not a good one. Clearly you lack such analyst skills. North Macedonia hold relatively little appeal for the average Irish holidaymaker. That is not to say people don't and wont visit it. But in general Slovenia far outstrips N. Macedonia in that regard hence the comment by someone that Ljubljana is far better potential market for flights than is Skopje.
DeleteSo this mean Irish people crying to visit Slovenia because everything is free in that EU country right ? And they avoiding Macedonia or other countries ? I didnt know this. Slovenia has tourists but not by air, car and buses. Macedonia has air travel tourists thats the difference
DeleteIt would be nice if the extra Dubai-Dubrovnik flights was Emirates :D
ReplyDeleteInteresting that someone wants to add Dubai capacity. If it’s Emirates… wow. But more realistically it’s Flydubai trying to go double daily on peak days.
DeleteThe premium demand there is solid in summer.
DeleteMy bet is on emirates, Dubrovnik really is a premium destination.
DeleteEmirates don't operate seasonal routes.
DeleteIt does but not in Europe
DeleteNo way Emirates coming to DBV before coming to BEG and/or returning to ZAG. My bet is on flydubai with additional flights
DeleteEmirates operates seasonal routes.
DeleteWhich one?
Delete@15.49 not true. They do.not have a single seasonal route.
DeleteBali
DeleteThat is not a seasonal route.
DeleteHope we see LOT back in PRN next summer.
ReplyDeleteIt could be anyone really. Even someone like Smartwings Poland.
DeleteBut smartwings offer only charter flights, right?
DeleteNo, Smartwings has a large network of scheduled flights.
DeleteInteresting info. Thank you
ReplyDeleteFantastic. Hope at least some of these materialize.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting for DUB-SKP , but I will rather say we need either Gatwick or Stansted , Luton is good but ,its always nice to have second option.... I really dont know what is the demand for Dublin....
ReplyDeleteThe last interview of TAV director was: we are working on bring more UK flights for more tourists,as well Spain and Middle east, he didnt mention Ireland he said UK , so it is little weird , but it is nice news anyway
DeleteLuton isn't even daily to Skopje which really speaks volumes of demand. Wizzair's summer schedule involve some of the most horrible arrival times possible at 02:05 which also speaks of the routes O+D nature.
DeleteI'm convinced nothing will come of the Dublin rumor, its just not a workable route unless Ryanair was to enter the N. Macedonian market. Even then I would suspect they would begin with Germany, Italy and perhaps Sweden.
Yes , there are some Irish people enjoying Ohrid sun ( but most likely they are there for much cheaper booze). What is really needed is UK abolishing the visas for Macedonia. UK has visa free travel to some very problematic countries around the world, Macedonians with total 1.8 m (last census, in reality even less) do not present any real danger. There is a sizable Macedonian community in London (and they are permanent residents) but many of their friends would like to visit them. And getting a UK visa is harder and more involved than getting USA visa. Time to end this anachronism. That would boost SKP to any London airports, also Dublin.
DeleteIt would indeed, and should be. But it is unlikely to occur for quite a while given British politics and N.M's progress towards the EU.
DeleteMacedonia will build its railway network with UK money, there is agrement betwen both governments, with a huge money in game,for now both countries have really nice relations, also there is signs of UK to start cutting the visas in people category, not full cut but still to be free going as tourists, transit, and things like that,it is possible this to be implemented very soon
Delete@17:31 It is correct that the UK and North Macedonia have a deal for the railways, and that is an exciting development indeed! There is however, no concrete evidence at all that the UK will remove visas for N. Macedonian citizens anytime soon - none. Wishful thinking is great, and i support it. But is not the same as actual evidence of such a movie.
DeleteThere are talks they start removing in segments or parts slowly, it is mentioned that there will be like a groups , I dont really know what thag means, but I saw it on the news, of course that is long process and hopefully will ever happend. For us is very important we have this nice relations wit UK and continue them in future :))
DeleteNice. But still visas are here to stay sadly for a long while more.
DeleteThey will stay yes thats true as I mentioned above that is long process and cannot be done by night, hopefully they will be cutted in years that coming
DeleteYep. North Macedonia and the rest of the region will have a long wait I fear. If Montenegro joins the EU in 2028 that might help to boost things along. As over 210,000 North Macedonians hold Bulgarian passports they have the ability to enter the UK as things stand.
DeleteJoining EU doesnt change anything when we talk about the UK, as we know they are not in the EU anymore....all Macedonians who get Bulgarian passports are because of immigrating in EU not UK ....
DeleteYeah right.....
DeleteAdmin do you have any info will Flydubai launch Skopje service? Thank you🤗
ReplyDeleteWell it does not seem they applied for slots. So looks like nothing will happen.
DeleteVery bad, we are getting connections in Europe,thats all fine, but we dont have direct flight to Middle east which is extremely bad :(
DeleteWhen the market is right Skopje will get connections, that's how things function.
DeleteThey will go to Thessaloniki instead of Skopje mark my words.
DeleteTAV prefers all travel to the country from the Middle East and Asia in general is through IST/SAW with Turkish carriers.
Deletelol at conspiracy theory @14.41 as if TAV is an important factor and they decide...
DeleteI think Aer lingus will start seasonal flights to Skopje, lets see,they will giwe a try.... lets see.....Ryanair will not come here with one route...thats my opinion
DeleteThis will be for sure summer seasonal and will work, it seems like will be oprated by some tour operator option like TUI does with OHD holidays package, I wish all the luck and hope this will happend!!
DeleteWow 50k passengers in a first time route Skopje-Dublin lauching, this must be a serious player , good luck hopefully we will get it whoever applied :))))
ReplyDeleteWell that figure tells us all we need to know that this won't be happening. This would equate to just under the same number of seats as are available between Sofia and Dublin in a given year which is a very different market considering they are both EU states.
DeleteEU states doesnt have nothing with this. If there is demand any route will work, please stop comparing markets. Every market has its own potential, every market has something to offer that other doesnt have and etc.... of course tbis will be 2x weekly and summer seasonal so it will work without any issues. Plus if tour operator is in game, they know what they are doing better than you and me, they search the potential, this not comes by a night..... :)))
Delete"please stop comparing markets" that is what serious analysis demands. But you haven't got a real grip on issues and i understand its quite complex.
DeleteI told you clearly, every market its different every market has something to offers,every markets has it demands !!!! do not compare and be judge please and thank you!!!
DeleteBut that has not meaning! "Every market does offer something". And Skopje offers nothing for Ryanair from Dublin at the moment. As people have said maybe a charter airline or some package, but not FR. YES to comparing markets and situations. NO to silly wishful thinking.
DeleteLOT tried PRN once and didn’t last even a full season… wonder what’s different this time.
ReplyDeleteProbably GP seasonal flights , I dont think so that LOT will come back there after that uncessfully mission they had there....
DeleteWe’re used to strange Saudi routes from SJJ at this point.
ReplyDeleteNothing strange about Dammam as the biggest LCC hub which then makes the entire region reachable for little money.
DeleteJeddah - Pristina probably is doing good since they extended it. Although Saudi airlines secure these slots randomly.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard loads are about 60 passengers per flight. But the route is subsidized by the Saudi Connectivity Program.
DeleteI've flown from RUH to FCO and ATH and the loads are mostly 30 pax from my experience, not much better for CDG
DeleteReligious travel agencies are filling up these flights
DeleteSkopje getting Dublin flights before Belgrade is insane, no one could predict it.
ReplyDeleteits only slots for now :) It was the case with Barcelona too when i remember correctly
DeleteIt hasn't got Dublin flights. This is a proposed service. Securing slots does not mean it will occur. Do people really think Skopje from Dublin is a priority for Ryanair? I can assure people it is not (despite it being a lovely destination).
DeleteWhy would someone secure slots, flight numbers and passenger expectations which are 50k , I dont get you? You think they are boring and doing this ?
Delete@17:23 as several people have said. Securing slots does NOT mean it will occur. What flight numbers are you talking about? the 50k number is based upon what that number of flights would equal. Do you realise that none of this is based upon anything solid?
DeleteIf someone planning something than it will happend, obviously here someone is planning to giwe a try and thats great! We need to find out who is the player!
DeleteIt is quite clearly stated in the third sentence of this article. Do any of you actually read?
Delete"However, as these allocations stem from initial applications, the carriers may ultimately repurpose the approved timings for other destinations. As a result, the launch of these flights remains tentative and is not yet guaranteed."
@17:43 many people here don't. I agree with you totally.
Delete17:43 it was same scenario with Easyjet , they apply for Orly slots months before and after that they launch the route, so nothing is impossible right... nobody says this is launching, people are just giwing examples of previous plans like this , got it? :))
Deleteomg dont start with the Ryanair dream/drama again :)
ReplyDeleteSKP: DUB-SKP its Ryanair
PRN: defo LOT is thinking of giving it a second chance
I am more in direction of Aer lingus to giwe a try , I dont think so that Ryanair will come here with a single route if we know what Wizz has 40. Or this could be a chance of Ryanair to enter the market to giwe a try as well and after that ask for subsidies and launch more routes, what do you think could be ?🤔
DeleteDubrovnik could be Air Arabia or Air Asia?
ReplyDeleteNeither fly from Dubai International.
DeleteAir Asia announced it
DeleteAirAsia has not submitted any slot requests at Dubai Airport, therefore, this application does not pertain to them.
Deletethere are 25 new daily slots for Dublin. To which other airports FR secured slots?
ReplyDeleteOther than?
DeleteFR has been fighting with Dublin Airport for a while now. Whilst its expansion there is possible given the new slots and the lifting of the cap, its not really made much move so far for winter '25 and with the exception of Rabat has reduced services from the Irish capital during the year.
After the viasco talks with our minister and coming two times in Macedonia, I think FR by any chance will try to get into our market,just to show W6 we are present here and sneak them behind their neck.. of course this will be subsided route, and if by any chance is succesfull, they will aplly for more routes of course subsided too. This also comes after TAV director talks that We are targeting more UK destinations, so it is quite possible this happend. I wish Aer lingus to launch flights here, but knowing they do not serve much bigger markets in Europe, I do think FR will giwe a try. This is just my pesonal opinion
ReplyDeleteHello admin, do you maybe have prediction or examples who could possibly launch SKP-DUB flights ? Thanks in advance
ReplyDelete